Abstract [en]

This study examines whether the development and distribution of public subsidies for Swedish parties from the 1970s and onward tend to support some of Richard S. Katz and Peter Mair assumptions about political parties. The results show that governmental party subsidies can have a negative impact on party membership recruitment, that an increasing proportion of party subsidies is given to the parliamentary groups while less goes to the member’s party organization on the national level, and that the extensive party subsidies from municipalities, counties and parliament may allow an independent development of parties at the municipal, county, and state level.